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Pastrana will host meet & greet Aug. 12 at Plymouth Speedway

PLYMOUTH — When Travis Pastrana took a spill at the X Games Thursday night, it wasn’t just the motocross champion’s foot that took a hit.
Pastrana’s fall at the X games broke two bones in his right foot and ankle, and he was scheduled for surgery on Friday. He’ll still attend TCU Night at the Plymouth Speedway to sign autographs and meet with fans, but the injured daredevil will be forced to sit out the Freestyle Motocross Show following the race.
“I shattered my leg and foot. Also, my ego took a hit, but some pins, plates and time should heal all. I’ll see you in two weeks! Can’t ride or drive though,” Pastrana was quoted as saying on the Plymouth Speedway website Friday.
Pastrana was scheduled to compete Thursday and Friday in the Moto X Best Trick competition, then fly from Los Angeles to Indianapolis for Saturday’s race. The next day he was scheduled to fly back for another X Games event, RallyCross.
The 27-year-old missed on his first attempt at a trick called the 720 Thursday — a trick he’s been trying to perfect for four years — got up and tried it again on a second bid with far worse results.
Pastrana is one of America’s most popular stuntmen, having won 16 X Games gold medals and multiple supercross, motocross and rally championships.
In September 2007, Pastrana jumped out of a plane without a parachute, hooked up with another parachutist and latched himself to the harness to land safely. On January 1, 2010, he set a new world record by jumping a rally car from the Pine Street Pier in Long Beach, Calif., onto a floating barge in the city’s harbor for a total distance of 269 feet. Last September, he set another world record by climbing Mt. Washington’s famed auto road in 6 minutes, 20.47 seconds in a Subaru rally car.
After testing last week in Indy, Pastrana said he was ready to give up the stunts and concentrate full-time on racing. He has run several races in the NASCAR K&N Pro division and has his eyes on competing for the $5 million prize at IndyCar’s season-ending event in October in Las Vegas.
For now, however, he’ll need to concentrate on getting healthy.
“The main thing is Travis’ health,” said Pastrana’s Nationwide team owner Michael Waltrip in an interview with the Associated Press Friday. “He gets his foot fixed and we’re going to give him four wheels for a while, we hope, and he probably won’t fall over in the dirt on four wheels.”